Scrolls vs Q-Snaps

Scrolls vs Q-Snaps

Lead

[-]

Posts: 144

May 22 09 4:05 AM

Tags : None

As you know I have come back into stitching after a break and after selling all my old stash. I now need to start building up my equipment again and I am in a
quandry. I am currently using a Q-Snap and a K's Creations lap stand, but I hope to aquire a System 4 as the lapstand is OK for my 11" Qs but I will
need a bigger frame of some kind to do my Miras and other larger designs. The reservations I always had with scrolls was the difficulty in getting a good
tension, and the suspicion that when I did get a good tension, the fabric was stretched. It was noticeable with Chatelaine Mandalas that what should have been
squares became a bit rectanglar where the fabic had been stretched between the scroll bars. Has anyone else noticed this? It took my husbands engineer's
eye to spot it first and then I just couldn't stop seeing it. I have seens posts elsewhere where Chats loked stretched as well. So the Qs seen a better
idea, as if the fabric stretches then it will be in all directions. But I am concerned about what happens with beading? WHat do you do about clamps? I have
been cushioning my stitching on my present design with some thin plastic foam which is brilliant, but the Q Snap keeps popping out of the stand's clamp
because it is slippery and springy.
So what do you all use, and do you have any advice on what I should go for?

Well I own the System 4 myself. I have used Q Snaps and have to say I don't care for them but I know most people do. The beading is the problem for me and
with scroll rods it is no problem at all. I use the Handi Clamp scroll rods and they have the same principle as Q Snaps. There is a plastic clamp that goes
around the rod just like on a Q Snap. I have never really had problems with my work be stretched out of shape so I don't know what to tell you about that
other than when I place my fabric on the rods I am rather anal about it being even. No matter what you use to get good tension you are going to stretch the
fabric to get it. Guess I am really no help here at all.

I am a scroll rod user & love them. I have never noticed my work being out of shape ever. Could it be that the stitch count of the fabric you used is not
exactly the same in height & width & being that the Chatelaine Mandalas are square, you can see the difference? I use lokscroll rods by Artisan Design
& they are fantastic. The only time I have had a problem with getting a good tension is on the 30" wide rods, but then my DH was able to apply more
tension than I could so I got the fabric nice & tight. I don't like the q-snaps at all. I would be more concerned that they would leave marks on the
fabric, that won't come out. It just comes down to what you prefer to use. There are just as many that love using q-snaps as using scroll rods. One tip I
found with scroll rods on the wider cuts of fabric, is to run a tacking line across the top & bottom of the fabric so that the fabric goes on the rods nice
& straight. If the fabric isn't straight on the rods, you won't get as good a tension. I would be interested in seeing an example of a Chatelaine
looking stretched after stitching, since I am contemplating purchasing the beautiful dragonfly piece when it gets released. Julia :-)

I don't have a system 4... but I have used both scroll rods and q snaps. I use q snaps currently and I wouldn't go back to scroll rods period, for many
reasons including the ones you have come across. I have 'created' my own frankenstein of a stand, it's a biy ugly but I love it! you can see it in
my yuku page images... it was created especially to hold enormous frames... It would probably cope with 35inch square possibily even more. and it was cheapish!
less than £70, me and my sister in law bought one each, and we shared the ingredients from a third to accomadate our huge qsnap frames. I have finished the taj
Mahal chatelaine, and my frame had the whole thing strectched and supported. So no problem with beads etc and the q snaps. there are no clamps to worry about,
because the qsnaps rest on arms rather than being held, a bit like a lecturn. Perhaps someone out there has bought them and not liked them and would like to
swap you something for them, perhaps a gift certificate at a ons or something. It's worth asking around.

I have always used scroll frames, tried Q-Snaps but didn't like the bulk, the snap thingy being near the fabric or having to come up with some way of
dealing with the excess fabric. I've never had a problem with my fabric going out of square but that could be for several reasons, I don't like my
fabric drum-tight, I figure that much tension has got to create some damage; I square off all my fabric before I mount it on the rods, measure out to the
length you need, pull a thread or two out all the way across, cut along the gap and do the same thing on the width (you'd be amazed at how off some of the
cuts are some by 2 or 3 inches); and, I always mount with the selvedge edge on the side not attached to the rods, a hint I picked up in a class on bellpulls.

Your square designs that come out rectangles may have nothing to do with scrolls or qsnaps. It may just be that the weave of the linen (or lugana, or whatever
you were using) is off a little bit. It doesnn't have to be off much to make a difference.

That said, I prefer scrolls. I hate having to zigsaw qsnaps together to make the proper size I need. And it's annoying to have the whole design out in
qsnaps when it's something long (like a big Mira fairy for instance). it makes it hard for me to reach around when I'm working on it.

I have been using Qsnaps for years. I have actually gone back to scroll frames, by making my own. I like that the Qs are light (I don't have a stand). But,
I am always misplacing pieces of the Qs, or my kids run off with them when I am not looking. I have parts all over, and it takes forever to find all the right
lengths to make a frame. As for all the extra fabric, I roll it up and clamp it with a hair claw thingy, then hide it under the fabric Qsnap hugger thing. ( I
am not good with technical terms, sorry! Everything is "that thing" to me, lol). I am seriously considering trying the scroll frame Sooz mentioned...

I just stitch in my hand, no QS, no rolls, no frame, no ring
It works the best for me because I can really get the fabric near my eyes and my chart nearby on my lap on a pillow.
I have no troubles with tention at all, and I am stitching over 25 years.

I've done it all.......hoops, scrolls, and q-snaps. Now, I just stitch "in hand". I haven't worked a Mira in over a year, so if I have to do
tons of beading I may go back to the scrolls or q-snaps. It all depends on the size of the piece. However, if I can figure out how to do it in hand, I'll
just stick to that.

I use a 7" or 5" hoop, rolling up the excess fabric and clamping it to the top of the hoop with a "chip clip". I've tried the others,
but I am just more comfortable with a hoop. I always start at the bottom left of my project, and working left to right. That leaves the "heavier, already
stitched" part at the bottom, not rolled up, in my lap. I have a "thingy" that fits on the left arm of my chair, and holds the chart. Everything
else is on an "end table" to my right. Been stitching like this for 17 years. Works for me

I use no Q-snaps, lapstands, or scrolls. I use to have a K-creations stand and threw it away beacuse I have found all of these to be to bulky. I have no
problems w/tension. But, I was taught to stitch that way when I was 14 or 15 y.o. That was over 30 yrs ago.

I use both, usually scroll bars with samplers and Qs for everything else. I just keep making the Qs bigger as I go ( I made bigger ones outta pvc pipe and
elbows). I bead at the end, but only cuz that's me. When the Qs get to big to hold I put them on a an old floor stand for latch-hook gramma gave me, and it
works great- sorta like an easel.
If you're having problems with your design getting distorted, that is more to do with the warp/weft of your fabric's weave. The selvage should be on
the left or right and not the top or bottom to keep the design from warping- no pun intended. My lns is a stickler about cutting fabric this way, even
evenweaves, to save on customer frustration.

I use scrolls, Qsnaps, and also stitch in hand! It all depends on what I'm stitching and how I'm feeling. Although I nearly always put a piece
on scrolls for beading, which I always leave till the end.

I tried the scrolls & q-snaps. I like my fabric to be really tight so I use q-snaps now. (I never really got into the scrolls, though I still have them.) I
hold my frame until it gets to big & I have to use my stand which I got really cheap from Micheal's.

I could never figure out what you're supposed to do with all the extra fabric when you're using qsnaps. I've also heard of the corners of the
clamps on qsnaps ripping a hole in the fabric.... That right there was enough to TOTALLY put me off of qsnaps.